Birmingham Southern College - Southern Accent Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

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position subsidiary to our Board of Trustees and thus charged pri- marily with the operation of the college and implementation of directives from the Board? DR. HOUNSHELL: Generally speaking, yes. You see, the col- lege IS the Board of Trustees in a legal sense. At the inception of this College, the Board of Trust- ees met and devised a charter with which it hoped to institute a college providing education in a Christian environment. Thus Bir- mingham-Southern College de- rives its authority, its legal exis- tence from the Board of Trust- ees; the Board has final power in all matters pertaining to the op- eration or expansion of the col- lege. I, as President of the College, am an appointee of the Board encharged with the execu- tion of policies as set forth in the charter and in the semiannual Board meeting. ACCENT: Just how active is the Board of Trustees in the opera- ti on of this college? What crite- ria does the Board apply in either approving or rejecting pro- posals brought before it? DR. HOUNSHELL: To answer your first question, the Board only meets twice a year and then only for a short time at each meeting. Consequently only ma- jor proposals are considered: routine matters are handled with- in the existing administrative ma- chinery of the college. For example, the purchase of addi- tional furniture for the dormito- ries would be handled through the Treasurer. Another example would be the various deans — Deans Abernethy, Whetstone. Cochran, and Sturrock in their various offices. ACCENT: 1 see, how then does the Board decide on the more important issues brought before it? DR. HOUNSHELL: In deciding whether to reject or accept a pro- posal the Board applies two ma- jor criteria. Firstly, the Board must decide as to whether or not the proposal in question assists in fulfilling the function of the College — that is to provide edu- cational opportunities and facil- ities for the students since THEY ARE THE COLLEGE. Secondly, the Board must con- sider the limitations of the col- lege ' s ability to best discharge its educational duty. To clarify, can the college carry out the propos- al without impairing other as- pects of its program considered equally vital. An example might be that necessary new construc- tion would have to be postponed because it would dig too deeply into the endowment of the col- lege. I think you can see then that the Board may be compelled to reject some proposals simply because of their lack of feasibil- ity. Essentially, these are the ma- jor criteria that the Board must apply to any question coming be- fore it for consideration. ACCENT: Now that you have clarified your role and the Board ' s role — w here does the typical Birmingham-Southern student fit? DR. HOUNSHELL: Of course no college can exist without its students and faculty. I have great faith in today ' s student. The goal of most students is an education- al experience that will meet their needs in today ' s world. Most stu- dents are not interested in de- stroying the college; they are in- terested in inspiring the college: they want it to be more adequate and more relevant. The survival of the college is threatened less by student unrest than by the existence of condi- tions against which the students

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' SOUTHERN GAINS NEW PRESIDENT IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SOUTHERN ACCENT— PRESIDENT HOUNSHELL TELLS HIS PLANS FOR ' SOUTHERN ' S FUTURE ACCENT: What exactly is your relation to the Board of Trustees in the operation of Birmingham — Southern. Dr. Hounshell? DR. HOUNSHELL: To explain my role in the operation of this college let me use the analogy of a large business corporation. At the head of the corporation there will be a body known as the Board of Directors or Board of Trustees from which the corpo- ration derives all of its authority. Normally the men composing such a board are not associated full time with the institution they represent — quite often the mem- bers are affiliated with other in- stitutions which may or may not operate in the same area. Thus to adequately discharge their re- sponsibilities, the Board requires a link between itself and the day- to-day operation of the institu- tion. The president of a corpora- tion or college provides the link necessary to the maintenance and operation of the entity which the Board represents. ACCENT: Dr. Hounshell, are we to understand that a college is a legal entity akin to a corpo- ration? If so, are you then in a

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are protesting. There should be a genuine attempt on the part of the faculty and administration to communicate with students about these conditions. And, in so far as colleges are able to es- tablish a sense of community — the community of learners, some senior and some junior, all en- gaged in the common enterprise of searching for truth and mean- ing — the survival of the college will be assured. ACCENT: Would it be correct, Dr. Hounshell, in assuming that you foresee an active role for stu- dents in Birmingham-Southern College? DR. HOUNSHELL: Yes, I would like to be very open- minded about the way in which educational programs should de- velop, but I am enough of a tra- ditionalist to believe that some structuring from the top is neces- sary. However, the students would certainly not be precluded from carrying out an active role within the college. We are search- ing for the truth in meaning, and ideally, there should be no in- compatibility among students, the administration, and the fac- ulty in striving to reach this goal. If I had to define a good college succinctly, I would say: Good professors, good students, and a reasonable opportunity for them to get together. ACCENT: Dr. Hounshell, in general, what do you foresee years ahead for Birmingham- Southern College? DR. HOUNSHELL: As you know, we are now working with grants supplied from various foundations, for example, the Ford Foundation, and I would hope that we would be able to implement the requirements in the next several years. Various improvements that I envision within the next five to ten years would be construction of new dormitories, new library, and new gymnasium. We feel that our enrollment will be fif- teen hundred students, half again as many as we have now; thus we will have to expand to meet the needs of a student body. ACCENT: How will the Bir- mingham-Southern student of the future differ from those of to- day? DR. HOUNSHELL: Bir- mingham-Southern is a regional college primarily, and undoubt- edly a preponderant number of our students will continue from the immediate region. However, we desire to have enough stu- dents from outside the region to keep BSC from becoming pro- vincial and yet we would hope to have enough from within the re- gion to give it character along with geographic diversity in our student body, we would also hope for a variety of different s o c i o — economic backgrounds which would enable students to attend regardless of financial conditions. Birmingham-Southern College has a role to fulfill within the community as well as its academ- ic duties. A combination of good students, good faculty, and imag- inative programs would assure attainment of the goals of this college. This is MY hope. ACCENT: Thank you. Dr. Hounshell.